Cold food, beverage industry experiences slew of personnel changes
ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:
Southeast Produce Council, Millen, Ga.
Two industry veterans were appointed to serve on the advisory panel known as the board of governors. Garry Bergstrom joined Publix in 1972 as a part-time produce clerk. He was then promoted to produce manager in 1975, produce merchandiser in 1987, produce buyer in 1989 and divisional manager of produce/floral for the Lakeland division in 1999. Bergstrom then rose to corporate produce purchasing manager in 2000, and served as business director of produce/floral from 2005 until his retirement earlier this year. Gordon Hochberg began freelancing for The Produce News in the early 1970s, and quickly moved up the corporate ladder, first as assistant editor, then associate editor, followed by the top editorial position in the summer of 1985. He joined the management side of the company as vice president and co-owner in 1994. He stepped away from day-to-day responsibilities in the summer of 2011, but continues to report on a variety of topics.
National Pork Board, Des Moines, Iowa Craig Morris was named new vice president of international marketing, effective Oct. 30. Morris has been the deputy administrator over the Livestock, Poultry and Seed Program of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) since 2004. For the past 25 years, Morris has held high-profile strategic leadership roles with the federal government, industry associations and in the private sector. He has extensive experience in international trade, shaping the country’s livestock marketing strategy and building comprehensive export programs that meet the needs of industry stakeholders both here and around the world. Morris’ key achievements include building the export verification programs upon which the livestock industry depends to market products; reaching international consensus on issues such as meat quality, animal welfare and social responsibility; providing consumer assurances for such issues as the responsible use of antibiotics in livestock production through the USDA’s Process Verified Program; and oversight of the USDA’s Country of Origin Labeling Program. Most recently, Morris played a leadership role in the U.S. delegation that re-opened the Chinese market to U.S. beef exports after 14 years of closure. He also was instrumental in the biotechnology rulemaking process, working with Congress and industry leaders to implement a program that is both science-based and consumer focused.
National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF), Washington, D.C. Susan Crystal-Mansour was named vice president of program impact, responsible for leading the implementation and execution of the foundation’s portfolio of programs, including ProStart, Opportunity Youth, Military, Scholarships and Hospitality Sector Registered Apprenticeship. Prior to joining the foundation, Crystal-Mansour served as director of association services at Westat, where she led a team of professionals serving associations and foundations by providing research and analysis, data collection, program design, stakeholder alignment and operation of strategic plans.